sprawl

sprawl
[[t]sprɔ͟ːl[/t]]
sprawls, sprawling, sprawled
1) VERB If you sprawl somewhere, you sit or lie down with your legs and arms spread out in a careless way.
→ See also sprawled

[V prep/adv] She sprawled on the bed as he had left her, not even moving to cover herself up...

[V prep/adv] They sprawled in lawn chairs, snoozing...

[V prep] He locked his knee against the man's inner thigh and sent him sprawling to the ground.

Sprawl out means the same as sprawl.

V P prep He would take two aspirin and sprawl out on his bed.

2) VERB If you say that a place sprawls, you mean that it covers a large area of land.

[V prep] The State Recreation Area sprawls over 900 acres on the southern tip of Key Biscayne...

[V prep] If we continue to sprawl across the land, we're in for a terrible future...

[V-ing] The sprawling city contained some 4m people.

3) N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp You can use sprawl to refer to an area where a city has grown outwards in an uncontrolled way.

The whole urban sprawl of Ankara contains over 2.6m people.

4) VERB If something sprawls, its structure is disorganized or it lacks direction.

[V adv] Boylan plays with language, letting the prose sprawl about before tightening it suddenly to great effect...

[V-ing] He keeps forgetting the words and the song is a sprawling mess.

Syn:

English dictionary. 2008.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • sprawl´er — sprawl «sprl», verb, noun. –v.i. 1. to toss or spread the limbs about, like an infant or an animal lying on its back: »reading contentedly with his legs sprawled over the arm of the couch. 2. to lie or sit with the limbs spread out, especially… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Sprawl — can refer to:*Sprawl (grappling), a defensive technique in wrestling and martial arts *Urban sprawl, also called suburban sprawl *The Sprawl, the metropolitan region stretching from Boston to Atlanta in William Gibson s fiction …   Wikipedia

  • sprawl — (spr[add]l), n. The position or state resulting from sprawling; as, he sat on the couch in a sprawl; uncontrolled urban sprawl. [PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Sprawl — (spr[add]l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Sprawled} (spr[add]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Sprawling}.] [OE. spraulen; cf. Sw. sprattla to sprawl, dial. Sw. spralla, Dan. spr[ae]lle, spr[ae]lde, D. spartelen, spertelen, to flounder, to struggle.] 1. To spread… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sprawl — sprawl·er; sprawl·ing·ly; sprawl; …   English syllables

  • sprawl — [sprôl] vi. [ME spraulen < OE spreawlian, to move convulsively: see SPROUT] 1. a) to spread the limbs in a relaxed, awkward, or unnatural position b) to sit or lie in such a position [to sprawl in a chair] 2. to crawl in an awkward, ungainly… …   English World dictionary

  • sprawl|y — «SPR lee», adjective, sprawl|i|er, sprawl|i|est. of a sprawling character; straggly …   Useful english dictionary

  • sprawl — index expand, spread Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • sprawl — [v] sit or lie spread out drape, extend, flop, lie, lie spread eagle*, loll, lounge, ramble, recline, sit, slouch, slump, spread, straddle, straggle, stretch, trail; concept 201 Ant. straighten …   New thesaurus

  • sprawl — ► VERB 1) sit, lie, or fall with one s limbs spread out in an ungainly way. 2) (often as adj. sprawling) spread out irregularly over a large area. ► NOUN 1) a sprawling position or movement. 2) a sprawling group or mass, especially the… …   English terms dictionary

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